Dedicated to the Ones We Love- The Shirelles

The four young women who eventually came to be known as the Shirelles began singing together while they were still in high school, calling themselves the Popquellos. After Addie "Micki" Harris (1940-1982), Beverly Lee (1940-), Shirely Owens, later Shirley Alston (1941-), (Shirely was somtimes the lead singer and her nephew is lead singer Gerald Alston from hit group of the 70s "The Manhattans"), and Doris Coley (1942-) won a school competition in Passaic, New Jersey, singing a song they had written called "I Met Him on a Sunday," they were signed to a small label called Tiara Records. The record company was owned by Florence Greenberg, who daughter Mary Jane attended school with the group and had suggested that they audition for her mother. The girls renamed themselves the Shirelles, and in the spring of 1958 they released "I Met Him on a Sunday." Florence Greenberg leased the song to Decca Records, and the Shirelles' first single made it to number 49 on the Billboard pop charts. In 1959 Florence Greenberg created a label called Scepter Records, hiring songwriter and producer Luther Dixon to work with the Shirelles. Their next record, a cover of the Five Royales' song "Dedicated to the One I love," reached only number 83. However, the Shirelles followed up in 1960 with "Tonight's the Night," a song written by Shirley Owens and Luther Dixon that went to number 39 after some competition with the Chiffons, who took their version of the song to number 76. After this accomplishment, Luther Dixon suggested that the group record "Will You Still Love Me Tommorrow?" At first the Shirelles didn't like the song at all, they protested, saying that the song's demo (performed by songwriter Carole King) sounded too much like a country and western record. When Luther Dixon and Carole King came up with a new musical arrangement, the group agreed to do the song. The result was a pop masterpiece, featuring a prominent string section and an uptempo drumbeat (with Carole King playing timpani(, that gave the Shirelles (and the songwriter tearm of Goffin and Carole King) their first number one hit on the pop and R&B charts. A month later, "Dedicated to the One I Love" was reissued and quickly rose to number 3. "Will You Still Love Me Tommorrow?" is the best oldies and most listen to oldie of all-time. It has always be a favorite oldie. It's also the most requested oldie song on a oldies station, the song is always featured in a lot of movies of the 80s and 90s. That's a song that will go down in history and never be forgotten. No one could ever do that song like the Shirelles. When you hear that song it brings back a lot of memories. The Shirelles are best known for that song and always will be. In the spring of 1961, the Shirelles embarked on a tour of the United States; meanwhile, their next single, "Mama Said," hit number 4. This was followed by a handful of releases that failed to break into the Top Forty. At the beginning of 1962, songwriter Burt Bacharach offered the group "Baby It's You," a song he had written with his partner, Hal David, and the Shirelles turned it into a Top Ten hit. A few months later, "Soldier Boy" became the group's thirdl million-selling single. Composed by Luther Dixon and Florence Greenberg and recorded at the end of a session in a single take, "Soldier Boy" was originally meant to be a filler song on on of the Shirelles' albums. The group went on to rock up three more Top Forty singles with Luther Dixon as their producer before he ceased working with them at the end of 1962. During this period, the Shirelles were offered singer Gene Pitney's composition "He's A Rebel" (which the Crystals would later record and make into a number one hit), but Florence Greenberg rejected the song, thinking it might be controversial in the South, and she didn't want to mess up the 'Good Girl" image of the Shirelles. The Shirelles' final Top Ten record, "Foolish Little Girl," appeared in May 1963. By this time, the girl group sound the Shirelles had pioneered had exploded on the charts and competition was fierce. The Shirelles, were real close friends, they grew up together. But fame took its course, and the egos got in the way, they were also arguing and fighting over who should sing lead and they always argued about who got all the attention. When they first started singing there was no lead singer, all of them singed lead, but that changed. For awhile the Shirelles was the only girl group who ruled the charts, now it was a bunch of girl groups, so they had a lot of competition. The big party dresses they wore were going out of style, the other girl groups were wearing short skirts and go-go boots and beautiful long gowns. But other girl groups really looked up to them and hope to make the fame the Shirelles did. The Shirelles wre no longer Scepter's main priority, for Florence Greenberg now had other stars, including Dionne Warwick, who occasionally filled in for members of the Shirelles at live shows ansd sang backup vocals on some of their songs, because sometimes one of the Shirelles wouldn't show up and they were arguing and fighting with each other a lot. Florence Greenberg was suppose to be holding a large portion of the Shirelles' earning in a trust fund until they reached the age of 21. When they realized that the money no longer existed, the attempted to dissolve thir relationship with Scepter and sign with another label. Because of legal entanglements, however, the Shirelles were unable to sign a new contract, and Scepter continued to release material the group had already recorded. In early 1965, a song called "Are You Still My Baby?," which barely broke into the Top One Hundred, became the group's last chart entry for two and a half years. But they wasn't the only girl group to not have any hits around this time, a lot of girl groups were fading away and not having much success on the charts because of the BIG BRITISH INVASION that took over. The Shirelles were eventually able to record for other labels, including Mercury and Bell Records, but none of their subsequent releases came close to achieving the success of their early recordings. Instead of recording new songs, they found themsevles doing oldies circuits and that's what they did and they still do till this day. The Shirelles were the first girl group to have hits and really be noticed and paid attention to. "They Kicked the Doors Open for Other Girl Groups". They will never be forgotten.